VIDEO: Friends of Bobby Jones draws its vision from the club's past

To Shawn Pierson, the first hole of Bobby Jones Golf Club represents both the untapped potential and the improper management of the course.

Photographs from the 1920s capture legends such as Babe Ruth and Bobby Jones hitting off the tee box of that first hole. Pierson, founder of the Friends of Bobby Jones Golf Club, wants the city to build on that historic legacy to attract more people to the course.

Today, however, the land where that first tee box sat is in front of the clubhouse, right next to a rack where golfers can leave their bags. Nearby, the cart shack sits atop a segment of the original first fairway.

Pierson views these additions as missteps that could have been avoided if there were an overarching vision for the future of the course.

“We’re negating our city culture when we’re building new facilities needlessly on top of historic facilities,” Pierson said. “Coming from a career in historic preservation, that is a historic preservation don’t.”

The Friends of Bobby Jones, formed last March on Jones’ birthday, is placing a priority on creating that sort of a vision for the club. More than a year into the group’s efforts — with more than 40 supporters of the golf club on board — it has developed a four-part strategy for the future of the facility. Pierson believes the group already has made an impact on the way the city runs the golf club, but that there’s room for even more improvement.

Pierson’s work began more than two years ago, when he joined the city’s Parks, Recreation and Environmental Protection Board as the “Bobby Jones seat.” That position was the consolidation of the nine-member Bobby Jones Golf Course Advisory Board, which folded in 2011 due to budgetary issues.

As a result of the decreased advisory focus on Bobby Jones, Pierson believes, there was a communication breakdown between the golf course staff and city administration. Pierson asked Bobby Jones employees why they had not yet gone to the city to ask for changes recommended in a 2008 study, and they’d tell him it was because the city hadn’t asked them about it. When he went to city commissioners to ask why they hadn’t gone forward with those changes, he received a similar response.

“They’d say, ‘Well, because our staff isn’t recommending this,’” Pierson said. “There was a missing conversation.”

Friends of Bobby Jones Golf Club is focused on filling the gaps in that conversation. Already, the city has begun to move in the direction envisioned by Friends of Bobby Jones. Public Works Director Doug Jeffcoat, who Pierson said only visited the course a couple of times a year before 2013, has established a more regular presence at Bobby Jones, meeting with golfers and hosting a public forum to discuss the development of a long-term strategic plan.

Bobby Jones Golf Club Manager Sue Martin said the club has already implemented some recommendations from the Friends of Bobby Jones, such as tying the history of the course to discounts offered to golfers. The long-term goals of Friends of Bobby Jones are playing into the city’s work toward a master plan for the course, too.

“Many of the recommendations have long-range impacts and are being considered as part of the strategic plan process currently underway,” Martin said.

Although the long-range planning is still in its preliminary stages, funding will be an issue as the group’s plans move from conception to reality. Pierson is confident the city will be dedicated to enhancing the course.

The club has taken in just about as much revenue as it costs to operate over the past three years. Pierson believes smartly upgrading the facilities can produce both decreased maintenance costs and increased revenues; he’d like the city to reduce the overall amount of green space while improving the more essential elements of the course.

Certain upgrades — a new clubhouse, new greens and a new irrigation and drainage system — are necessary to keep the course functioning, Pierson said. Above all, Friends of Bobby Jones sets out to guide the city as it implements those improvements so that — unlike in the past — more thoughtful consideration is given to the overall final product.

“We have this wonderful history of relevance and national import in golf, and we sort of let that go,” Pierson said.

COURSE WORK
Friends of Bobby Jones Golf Club has developed four initiatives designed to guide the future of the municipal facility.

• The Jones Initiative — Named after Bobby Jones; designed to create a master plan and strategic vision for the park.

• The Ross Initiative — Named after course designer Donald Ross; designed to preserve the historic aspects of the park.

• The Azinger Initiative — Named after professional golfer and Sarasota High School graduate Paul Azinger; designed to create a more challenging course out of the 18 holes added in 1952 and 1967.

• The Gillespie Initiative — Named after John Hamilton Gillespie, Sarasota’s first mayor; designed to grow the game, add training facilities and promote youth participation.

Contact David Conway at [email protected]